Kendall Campus Hosts First-Ever On-Campus Night Baseball Game
When Rudy Arias was a catcher for the Kendall Campus baseball team in the late 1970s, he never played a home night game because the field had no outdoor lights.
Forty-seven years later, that has changed.
On Jan. 19, the Sharks played their first-ever night game in the campus’ nearly 60-year baseball history.
A rainbow hung over the field just before the first pitch.
“Watching this right now, it’s such a beautiful thing,” said Arias, who had a 15-year career as a bullpen catcher with the New York Yankees, Miami Marlins and Baltimore Orioles, and is currently the Sharks’ catching coach.
As Arias spoke, eight 80-feet Musco Sports LED light towers illuminated the Kendall Campus field. Nearly 200 spectators watched the historic exhibition game versus St. Thomas University.
The game ended in a 3-3 tie after nine innings.
No official statistics were logged, but Sharks right-hander Juan Miguel Fernandez delivered the first pitch promptly at 6:30 p.m.—a ball on the lower left hand corner of the plate.
In addition to the gargantuan lights, the $1.2 million project required the installation of a new transformer and meter by Florida Power & Light. The project took seven months to complete.
Athletic Director Mike Balado believes the lights will increase attendance at games because it will allow fans to arrive after work hours and dodge the scorching Miami heat. The College also hopes to attract regional and state tournaments.
Lights will be used during the week and weekend games will be played during the day.
“Night games are more intense. We get more fans out; 1 p.m. games don’t really get a lot of people,” said Luis Muñoz, a freshman first baseman for the Sharks, who played night games at Monsignor Edward Pace High School. “It’s more fun to play with people in the crowd than to play with nobody.”
Freshmen catcher Matthew Say noticed another advantage:
“We [didn’t] get tired as fast,” Say said. “Today when I was catching I didn’t feel like my stamina was low throughout the game. If it would have been hot, I would’ve been dehydrated, completely gone.”
Installing lights at the ballpark has been discussed for the past two years. It’s part of a college-wide effort to enhance the student experience at Miami Dade College, something Madeline Pumariega, a former basketball player at the College, has advocated for since starting her tenure as president more than three years ago.
Other student-centric initiatives launched under Pumariega include the Presidential Scholars and the Rising Scholars programs more than two years ago, expanding the Honors College to the Homestead Campus in the fall of 2022, reopening Demie Mainieri field at North Campus this past December and kick-starting the Future Ready scholarship.
Last June, the College announced it would field men’s and women’s soccer teams in the fall of 2024.
“It’s about redesigning the experience for students so that they make Miami Dade College their first choice,” Pumariega said.
The Sharks’ first regular season home night baseball game will be on Feb. 6 against Elite Squad Academy.
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